Government captivity
According to the government of Canada, provinces can be discriminatory, due to an individual’s disability.
This is the case when it comes to disabilities in Manitoba. If an individual is covered under the Adults Living with an Intellectual Disability Act. These people get the following- 24-hour care, housing and access to different types of programming. They get to live life on their own terms.
Me, not so much-I cannot live my life, to its full potential. Why? The Manitoba government discriminates against its strictly physically disabled citizens. If a person has an IQ over 70 and a physical disability they are left to battle through different elements.
Only having staff with me for parts of the day, everything is so compact and stressful. Anything and everything that I have to get done during the day is done at the exact same time, every day. When I have no staff here with me, I cannot eat, drink use the washroom, take meds or go outside. There’s no way for me to have a job or participate in society, to its fullest extent.
Things tend to really escalate, when I am not feeling well. Say I have a sore throat and staff are here, I have a soothing cup of tea. For the short time I am at ease. Staff have now left. As time goes by, I need to use the washroom. Doing my best to hang on, only lasts for so long. After about an hour of holding on, I cannot do it anymore. What an awful feeling. As the pee covers my sheets, I cannot help but look at the clock. 2:35AM. Just great, my help is not going to be here for hours. Nothing left to do but weep and wait.
The dry cough, that I had earlier in the day has returned. It gets so bad that I cannot for the life of me, stop coughing. To the point where I end up throwing up all over myself. Now I am covered in my own excrement’s. My goal at the moment, is not to choke.
If the night cannot get any worse, all of a sudden, I hear a knock at the door. It is a person who had too much to drink. As they are screaming obscenities and pounding on the door, I cannot help but think to myself “what the hell am I to do, if they get in?”
During a winter storm, my front door blew open. I wake up to the police in my bedroom, asking me if I was okay. What if it was not, the police that walked into my house?
I am being neglected. My physical health fall to the point, where I’m starting to fail. The people in control, really do not seem to care. Why has the government of Manitoba, left me without equality, dignity and respect? My mental health is declining rapidly. Having to control every aspect has caused me to have negative emotions and very high anxiety. Physically, I have started to lose control of my weight. Strictly because, I do not have staff with me enough, to have the healthy diet that I want and need.
Today, why should it make a difference if a person has an intellectual disability or not. The fact of the matter is, that if a person has a disability and they need help living, they should get it. Its 2025, you would think government discrimination against its own citizens, should not exist but it does.
At present the province of Manitoba has a pilot project. The purpose of the project is to find gaps in an individuals disabled, related needs. The project, was only for those in Winnipeg Health Authority. What about the rest of us?
Human rights define what we are ALL entitled to a life of equality, dignity, respect, and a life free from discrimination. So why doesn’t this pertain to physically disabled persons?
Everything comes down to money. However, can a price really be put on life equality?